Dorking residents join hundreds of Extinction Rebellion activists at City of London protests

Dorking residents were among hundreds of protestors from Extinction Rebellion who blocked roads in the City of London on Monday 14th October to highlight the financial sector’s complicity in accelerating climate breakdown.

The protests closely
follow a warning from the Governor of the Bank of England, Mark Carney, that
corporations which fail to move towards zero-carbon emissions will be punished by
investors.

Protestors gathered in the rain outside St Paul’s Cathedral before
stepping into the road at 7am to block traffic at Bank junction. Police began
making arrests shortly afterwards.

Demonstrators were joined by representatives from a variety of
faith groups from the Christian, Jewish and Moslem communities.

Companies targeted by protestors included asset management fund
Blackrock, which recent research has shown is one of three money managers –
including Vanguard and State Street – that have a combined $300bn fossil fuel
investment portfolio, built by using money from people’s private savings and pension
contributions.

Climate
activists glued themselves to Blackrock’s doors whilst others staged a mock
dinner party with rolled up banknotes on their plates.

One placard
raised outside the offices read: “When the last tree is dead, the last fish
caught and the last river poisoned, you will realise that you cannot eat
money.”

The Walkie
Talkie Building on Fenchurch Street, which houses some of the UK’s largest
insurers, was also targeted with protestors dressed as canaries, glued to the entrance.

Dorking
resident David Crawford, 66, a retired engineer, attended the action with his
son Guy Crawford, 31, a PHD student.

David said:
“I came here today, to the heart of the UK’s financial centre, outside the Bank
of England, to bring attention to the fact that the climate and ecological
crisis is being funded to the tune of trillions of pounds by British-based
companies profiting from ecological disaster and societal collapse around the
globe.”

He added:
“Major investment banks have provided $700 billion to the fossil fuel sector
sice The paris Agreement in 2015. This is madness.”

Referring to
the Governor of the Bank of England’s warning, local activist and youth worker Dom
Rudd, 61, said:

“I think the
corporates know the truth. They know that if they do not make changes they will
go bankrupt. I have spoken to two or three bankers here today who say they have
made risk assessments and know they have to change.

“And I think
the big corporations can make those changes in a way that governments have
failed to do so far because they can look at the long term. So, if we can bring
these corporations onboard we can drive change.

“We need to
change the system and the best way to do that is from within the system.”

He added:
“None of us can hide away from the truth any longer. I did for 30 years but now
I have grandchildren and I look at them and know this is going to hurt them and
hurt all of us if we don’t act. We must act now.”

Notes to editors

About Extinction Rebellion

Extinction Rebellion
came to public prominence in 2018, after a report by the Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change found that immediate, deep cuts in carbon emissions and
radical infrastructure changes are needed for even a 50–66% chance of avoiding
catastrophic climate change.1 The group blocked bridges in London in
late 2018, before a major protest action that lasted more than a week in April
pushed climate change up the political agenda and persuaded Parliament to
declare a Climate Emergency. However, there has been little Government action
since then, and global carbon emissions and rates of ecosystem destruction have
continued to rise unabated. Subsequent reports by the Intergovernmental
Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services2 and
a key UN Science Advisory Group3 have confirmed that humanity is on
track for an unprecedented global climate and ecological disaster.

Extinction Rebellion
believes it is a citizen’s duty to rebel, using peaceful civil disobedience,
when faced with criminal inactivity by their Government.

Extinction
Rebellion’s key demands are:

Government must tell
the truth by declaring a climate and ecological emergency, working with other
institutions to communicate the urgency for change.

Government must act
now to halt biodiversity loss and reduce greenhouse gas emissions to net zero
by 2025.

Government must
create and be led by the decisions of a Citizens’ Assembly on climate and
ecological justice.

What is a Citizen’s Assembly?

Citizens’ Assemblies
involve informed, non-partisan deliberation by a representative set of citizens
selected at random. Proponents believe that they help democracies to avoid the
pressures of party politics and lobbying by powerful corporations and
interests. An Extinction Rebellion spokesperson said “The climate and ecosystem
emergency is too important to be left to party politics. A Citizens’ Assembly
would help our country to identify fair, effective policies by means of
decision processes that are representative and thoughtful. Our politicians
should welcome this way of addressing the threat to everyone’s future without
getting side-tracked by party politics and special interests.”